Search This Blog

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Faith and Presence





If you read the Gospels and Hebrews, you will gain a deep appreciation for faith. Early in life, I did not revere faith. My church tradition emphasized grace over faith. Faith was seen as a second-hand gift that only pertained to a confession of devotion. Experience taught me that faith is far more essential and complex.

In the gospel, the children of God truly overwhelm God with their faith. John 1 speaks of this overwhelming faith.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The believers who received God took a giant step of faith. They put their full trust in a man who was rejected by the moral authorities and tortured by the government. The woman at the well believed enough to tell her community that she had found the Messiah. Peter openly professed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The sinful prostitute had enough faith to wipe Jesus’s feet with her tears and her hair. According to scripture, she KEPT wiping his feet even after the Pharisee publicly degraded her.

The New Testament is an extension of the Old Testament. Throughout history, God has cultivated generations who respect faith and promise. After studying the men and women of faith, I believe faith is even more important for our current generation. God is crafting radically obedient believers who will recognize His presence and second coming.



The Holy Spirit is advancing the kingdom of God through supernatural ways—ways that can't be perceived without radical faith. As we pray for His kingdom to come to earth, we will need eyes of faith to recognize His presence. We will need to discern God's move, not through eyes of speculation, but through eyes of faith. The end times will be tumultuous times, and we need to have the capacity to know God’s voice. The only way we can hear the Spirit is through faith. It will be easy for atheist and scientist to disprove the acts of God. We will need the hunger and conviction that our God is real, tangible, supernatural, and relational.

I write this with full conviction. God is about to come to the earth a second time. Scripture reads, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.” If His children can’t recognize His voice now; how will they discern His coming? I suggest that faith in the believable does not please God. Faith in the unimaginable is far more pleasing to Jesus. The faithful bride is a bride of faith. The believers who trust the Holy Spirit will be able to recognize the kingdom as it comes. The church will have faith that His kingdom is come. (This faith is fostered in the prayer room.)

One of my favorite faith passage reads:

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarded of those who seek Him.


I love this passage because true faith is based in the presence of God. God is good and powerful. It may be extremely hard to rest in His full presence because our brains are wired to expect the mundane, the plain, and the normal. The true believer is the one who can look full in face of Jesus and believe in His goodness. Such faith is hard, but achievable. When He comes in all His glory, the faithful will call out His name and believe He is the Son of God. That is the greatest act of faith: soaking in the presence with full faith that a Nazarene carpenter is God, Lord, and Messiah. When we see Him face to face we will know Him, and it will be essential that we believe in Him and His good character.

No comments: